14 DAY TRIAL // Amazon has added the classic Hanna Barbera cartoon series “Tom and Jerry” to its streaming services, with a word of warning that some episodes contain racially sensitive content. While no one is disputing the truth of the warning, many find it disturbing that Amazon would see the need for it.
Shortly after word of the new warning added to the series got out, the Internet is being flooded with negative comments regarding Amazon’s decision to include it. That “Tom and Jerry” is a product of its time goes without saying, but pointing out that it includes racially sensitive content is taking political correctness to a whole new level.
And that’s one where we risk finding offense in absolutely everything, apparently.
Amazon warns famous series is “racist”
“These animated shorts are products of their time,” Amazon says in the controversial warning. “Some of them may depict some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that were commonplace in American society. These depictions were wrong and are wrong today.”
Perhaps the most “racist” thing about the entire cartoon series is the character Mammy Two Shoes, the African-American house maid who makes an appearance in several episodes, but whose face is only once in the entire series shown.
Mammy Two Shoes is black and she’s a stereotype by all means that count. However, angry fans believe that Amazon should not point out in such a negative way this character’s existence, because that would be pretty much like saying that children shouldn’t whack themselves over the head with household items, like Tom and Jerry often do in their never-ending, literal cat-and-mouse game.
Or that they shouldn’t smoke cigars, or go on a rampage in their home, or even turn it into a skating rink by turning on the tap water and then opening the fridge. You get the idea.
“Tom and Jerry” is what it is. It’s also one of the most famous and beloved cartoon series that is so obviously a product of its time it doesn’t need the racist label because of today’s tendency to act PC about everything.
Providing cultural context for the series would have been much better
It’s not enough to say that something is racist, because that doesn’t make it less so. While no one is denying that “Tom and Jerry” includes content that would not be deemed appropriate by any of today’s networks, Amazon shouldn’t just label it racist and consider it a job well done.
Cultural context is what “Tom and Jerry” needs, not labels, cartoon historian Jerry Beck tells The Daily Beast.
“Amazon seems to have forgotten that ‘Tom and Jerry’ was made for adults as much as it was for children. [Amazon] should be showcasing ‘Tom and Jerry’ among classic movies in a way that gives them cultural context. The advisory is really meant to warn parents that the cartoon may include things like smoking or the black housekeeper that they might have to explain to their children,” Beck explains.
This is something that actress Whoopi Goldberg also stresses upon in her introduction to the 2005 DVD release of the series: Mammy Two Shoes is vital to the series and removing or in any way censoring the character would mean denying she ever existed – and, along with her, the stereotype that was the foundation for her.
You can see Goldberg’s introduction in full in the video below.
